Wednesday, April 6, 2016

It Looks Like Spring!

If there's one thing you can count on in Nashville is that the trees will bloom spectacularly in the spring! It's the one time of the year where the whole city is in bloom.

For the past couple of years, I've missed the flowering of my cherry tree. It's gorgeous, but doesn't last long. This year, I was determined not to miss it. In this picture, it was just beginning to bloom. Since I was gone for 4 days, I had Butch keeping an eye on it.

I got home to this. So beautiful in full bloom.

This is the larger view. It's a pale pink. Although, in years past, sometimes it seems to be pinker. It could be my imagination or due to some other external factor---more moisture than other years.

This is a pretty sad looking Oklahoma redbud. Still, it puts on such a glorious show in the spring that I cannot bear to let it go. The branches are only on the left side and really is pretty pathetic. Still, I'm keeping it. I can't resist those heart shaped leaves either.

I decided to cut some of the lilacs to make an arrangement. They are hard to cut as they bloom on woody branches. I have never brought them inside before. I don't really know anything about lilacs other than they look pretty in the garden for about 10 minutes! Another quick bloomer---really about a week.

I thought they smelled divine. Butch did not. In fact he thought the smell was obnoxious.

I made three smaller arrangements so that Stephanie, Mindy and their friend, Bonnie could take them home after our tapas night.

When I finished the arrangements, I felt something in my hair. I looked in the mirror and saw this spider. It was about the size of a half dollar. I thought it was a daddy long legs---and might have been. I didn't panic, just brushed it off. Now had Mitchell been here, he would have run for the hills, screaming like a little girl!!

Yes, I'm talking about this "big" boy. He hates spiders! They freak him out---as do snakes. Okay, I'm with him on that!

Anyway, the very next day, the lilacs were dead!! What??? I'm not sure what happened unless you can't really bring them in the house for cut flowers. Or, it could have been these---supposedly---awesome little moisture balls I bought. They look like little pieces of tapioca. You let them soak in water and they expand to the size of medium peas. They are supposed to make your flowers last longer. Maybe they didn't work. Either way, what a waste of time. I'm sure Butch was glad to see them go! Still, I get to enjoy them in the garden for a bit longer.

3 comments:

In this part of Wales - and maybe elsewhere in the UK it is considered unlucky to bring Lilac flowers into the house. I remember my paternal grandmother shrieking like a banshee and scaring seven bells out of me because I carried a beautiful Lilac flower into her house - well I intended to take it in but she caught me on the doorstep and I was sent to put the flower on the compost heap. Perhaps because they die quickly they are thought of as unlucky

I missed getting a picture of our weeping cherry on the day of its full bloom, and of course it rained the next day knocking the blooms down. Lilacs are my favorite - I love the scent too. We can't seem to get them to grow at our house though. Perhaps your little beads were not fully hydrated and they stole all the moisture from the lilacs?

About Me

I taught organizational classes for scrapbooking around the country---from organizing your space and supplies to your pictures, planning pages and getting ready for a scrapbook retreat.
A few years ago, I developed an in-depth photo organization workshop called "Making the Most of My Memories." Once the pictures were organized in a way that made it easy to access any photo at a moment's notice, "A Year of Memories" was the next natural step.
Each month, I assign a topic and provide a kit of materials. The next month each person shares their layout with the group. It's so much fun to see how everyone interprets the theme and uses the same materials---yet each layout is completely different. At the end of the year, we each have a completed album. We're on year 8 now.